Today the world celebrates Earth Day 2009. There are many special events being hosted world wide as the world focuses on saving our planet. While Earth Day brings an immediate awareness to our planet's plight, living green is something each and everyone of us should strive for daily. There are so many things we can do daily that do make a difference not only on a personal level but as a small

Mourning Dove(Zenaida macroura)March 26, 2009Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) visited the kids' garden providing on ground clean-up below the bird feeder. Now I have a love/hate relationship with these birds. In reality they are rather beneficial birds in the garden as they eat almost exclusively seeds but in a pinch will eat insects and snails. They provide the clean-up crew under bird

Eastern ChipmunkMarch 25, 2009The Eastern chipmunk is a member of the rodentia family and like all members have long front teeth for gnawing. They mate in the spring and again in the summer. One pair can produce 8 to 10 offspring per year. Our family is well acquainted with the Eastern chipmunk with most of that experienced gained though a couple of decades of camping. These cute little

Red-winged Blackbird(Agelaius phoeniceus) March 22, 2009I recently spent a couple of weeks at the home of oldest grandbaby so managed to get a few pictures of their garden visitors. Everyday a few Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) would visit the feeders. Red-winged blackbirds are members of the passerine family. Males display the bright red wing band while the females are a rather

Many are interested in putting in vegetable gardens this year partly as a way of keeping the ever rising food costs in check. At the same time herbs should be considered for a few reasons. Fresh herbs are a wonderful way to add a lot of flavour to dishes without a lot of cost. Second and most important is some herbs act as companion plants improving the growth of some vegetables or acting as